MASKS A BREATH OF LIFE FOR PETS IN PERIL

Temecula Fire Department firefighter-paramedic Deric Roemen and Capt. Barry Owens, with Fire Station 84, show off the recently received oxygen masks for pets to be used during emergency calls. Don Boomer • U-T

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Temecula Fire Department firefighter-paramedic Deric Roemen and Capt. Barry Owens, with Fire Station 84, show off the recently received oxygen masks for pets to be used during emergency calls. Don Boomer • U-T

The Temecula Fire Department, and departments throughout Riverside County that serve unincorporated areas and contract cities, are carrying pet oxygen masks on their fire engines, courtesy of a donation by an Anaheim nonprofit.

The nonprofit, the Emmazen Foundation, last month gave the county Fire Department 130 kits as part of an outreach that aims to get pet oxygen masks at every fire station in Southern California.

Temecula fire Capt. Barry Owens said the masks will help firefighters more effectively care for dogs, cats and other pets that suffer from smoke inhalation during a fire.

“The same equipment we use on a person we can use on a pet,” he said.

In the past, the Fire Department would use human-shaped masks and try to get oxygen directed toward their nostrils.

The donated masks are cone-shaped to better fit a cat or dog’s snout, and they help the pet suck in more life-saving air.

“You’re getting more oxygen around the dog’s snout,” he said.

The foundation was started by Debra Jo Chiapuzio about a year and a half ago as a sort of tribute to her dog, Emma, a 106-pound Labrador/Great Dane mix who can be seen riding in a big sidecar during Chiapuzio’s motorcycle rides in Riverside County.

Chiapuzio rescued Emma, then a puppy, from a shelter after the Santiago fire of 2007.

In 2010, during a pet CPR class, Chiapuzio learned about pet oxygen masks and wanted to make sure that her local fire department in Anaheim was carrying them on calls.

After working through the proper channels and getting the masks available for use there, Chiapuzio set her sights on other departments. She ended up deciding to focus on counties to check off the biggest departments, and then to work on the individual cities.

“Orange, L.A., San Bernardino and Riverside,” she said recently, reeling off the counties that now have a full complement of pet masks because of the foundation. “Ventura will be next.”

Later in the year, she plans to tackle the cities in Riverside County that don’t have the masks, and then move on to San Diego County. And after that?

“Now that I’m doing this, I’ll never stop,” she said.

The foundation’s mission has been helped by private donations and companies that have stepped up to pitch in.

In the nonprofit’s relatively brief life, Chiapuzio has said she’s heard from a number of people who have had their pets’ lives saved because of the masks.

“The emotion in it was something I wasn’t prepared for,” she said. “But that’s why we do it.”